MORE than 20 jobs have been saved at a redundancy-hit metal fabrication company.

The Eliza Tinsley Group, which employs 210 people in Evenwood, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham, announced last month it was making 85 redundancies.

But after a meeting with unions, the company has reduced the number to 62.

Unions said there would be 42 redundancies in production and about 20 from the back office operations.

The former Evenwood Engineering plant was taken over by the Tinsley Group in 1996.

Stephen Thompkins, of the GMB trade union, said: "It has now become clear that the number of redundancies will be slightly less than anticipated.

"While it is still disappointing, at least some breakthrough has been made.

"We now have a meeting on Friday when, hopefully, individuals will be told whether they are definitely going or not."

Mr Thompkins said the union had been pressing for the company to take into account the long service of employees when deciding where the axe was to fall, but he said the company was not making that a priority.

He also expressed disappointment at the low redundancy packages the company was offering.

"Obviously, we hoped they would offer more than the statutory package," he said.

"But that is all they are offering."

Workers who have been at the 50-year-old plant for a short time may only receive a week's pay as a redundancy package if they lose their jobs.

The last working day for those being laid off is believed to be either Christmas Eve or Boxing Day, but the company was unable to confirm that last night.

Stewart Maudsley, divisional director of the Tinsley Group, said: "We have reduced the number of redundancies to 62, through negotiations, and taking a more cautious view going forward.

"We are unable to offer any more than the statutory package because the market situation is extremely difficult at the moment and the company has to bear in mind the long-term future of all the business - and cash is a very important part of that.

"We are still working extremely hard to ensure the long-term future of the plant and are working on many avenues to do that."